AT THE start of last ­season few people would have backed Jonny Evans to emerge as Manchester United’s first-choice ­central defender within just 18 months.

Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were still regarded as one of Europe’s best defensive partnerships and Sir Alex Ferguson had spent a combined £26 million bringing in England Under-21 players Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, who appeared to be their long-term replacements.

Evans could have been as low as fifth in the pecking order at that point but a combination of his own dramatic improvement and injuries to his team-mates means that, as Ferguson ponders his selection to face Liverpool on Sunday, the Northern Ireland star will be one of the first names he scribbles down.

With Ferguson keeping a careful eye on the number of games Ferdinand and the injury- afflicted Vidic play these days, it is now a case of not whether Evans is picked, rather who is picked to play alongside him.

Over the past season and a half, Evans has played more matches than any of the club’s other centre-halves and a new three-and-half-year contract just before Christmas underlines Ferguson’s faith in a player who has been associated with United since his schooldays.

Evans admits the task of getting into the team is hard enough, never mind trying to match the standards set by Ferdinand and Vidic.

“When I first came into the first-team squad, the level that those two were playing at was unbelievable,” he said.

“The presence they had, the way they could defend, it was the very top. For younger players to try to emulate that was a big ask. It still is, although Chris has been here three years and Phil is in his second season.

“But for me coming through from the youth team looking at these two fantastic players, it was all about trying to get to that level – not necessarily as quickly as possible but just to the best of my ability. I just tried to be as good as I can be.

“That’s been the challenge. It’s not really been about getting into a normal first team – it’s trying to reach a standard set by Rio and Vidic, two of the best centre-backs in the world.

“It was a big ask, but something that you have to try to achieve. It’s probably the biggest challenge of all.” Vidic’s absence for much of the past 18 months with knee problems has opened the door for Evans and his partnership with Ferdinand has developed into the most consistent.

Last season they played together in 17 games, with United winning 13, drawing two and losing two. This season, they have figured alongside each other 12 times, and United have won 11 of those games.

Whereas once he would wait for instructions from the senior partner, Evans now says he is confident enough to take the lead in organising the defence.

Evans, speaking to Inside United, added: “I’d like to think it has always been a part of my game. It’s hard when you first come into the squad because I was never going to be able to do that. I was thinking to myself, ‘How can I tell these lads where they should be?’

“But then, in a short period of time, you gain that respect from your team-mates and the confidence to say something that needs to be said.

When I first came into the first-team squad, the level that those two were playing at was unbelievable

Jonny Evans

“Communication is a massive part of being a defender. It makes your job so much easier if you can tell your team-mates to move five yards one way, or two yards the other way. Small things like that make a big difference to your own game and it helps your team-mates out too.”

The other big feature of Evans’ game over the past nine months has been his goals output. He has scored five times – only two less than Ferdinand has managed in his entire United career – but believes it is more down to composure than any extra work in training.

“I’m older, more experienced and more confident,” he said. “I just relax a bit more. In the first couple of years, I was so desperate to score I was going up the other end of the pitch and not thinking about what was actually going on. I was just thinking, ‘I need to score, I need to score’.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to have that bit of composure, not try too hard and get yourself in the right positions.”

So far Evans has scored against Wolves, Newcastle (home and away), QPR and Braga. One against the old foe from Merseyside at Old Trafford on Sunday would be the sweetest yet.